Flight of Fancy
by TurboFerret
Summary: Also known as Steve's awkward attempts of approaching Soundwave for a delicate matter. [Soundwave/Steve the Eradicon] and TFP sub-plot meant to have happened during the series. Not a series rewrite.
1. Chapter 1

Plot bunnies are horrible, horrible creatures. This is intended as a short multi-chapter ficklet.

No deep thoughts here.

* * *

Steve was hiding in a storage compartment in one of the Nemesis corridors. He was hunched over in shame and his visor was so hot he thought he could fry an insecticon egg on it. Not that they would appreciate it, mind. Bracing himself he made a quick damage assessment and recalled what exactly had happened since the very morning.

He woke up to giggles and when his vision onlined properly he saw his four teammates huddled around him, visors glowing brightly.

-"Aww, Steve." His team leader also known as Viktor cooed at him.

-"Looks like someone had a good dream." Serengeti beamed.

Steve bolted up in his berth and looked around him. -"Guys?" There was a knowing glint in those visors.

-"Lucy, you owe me 2 cans of polish." Viktor quipped turning to the grumbling eradicon furthest from him.

-"What did I say?" Steve scrambled to his feet.

-"Don't worry, we will not tell anyone." Mina assured him, gently patting his arm.

-"No need, I bet Soundwave already has a recording of this." Serengeti pointed out without even a shred of compassion in his voice, the fragger.

That last sentence made Steve tense; he had a crush, of sorts, he was not even sure that was a real crush or just appreciation of spiky aesthetics and lean frames. That in itself was not a problem. He was not on the communications team and was able to keep his mouth shut about his preferences.

That was when he was a wake; recharge, however, was a different matter. The problem became apparent when some of his teammates complained that he talked in his sleep. That particular morning, according to his teammates, had been enlightening.

Steve had dashed out of their barracks and darted towards med bay in hopes of catching Breakdown for a much-needed spark to spark. Sadly the bruiser was out on a mission and Steve had only himself and his embarrassment for company.

Desperate for some alone time he sequestered himself into a hallway closet and started thinking.

Soundwave was the spy, and, according to some rumors a telepath, and also a vampire. That last portion of trivia Steve chose not to trust because that had only come about when they had entered the Earth's orbit and apparently the human culture had some sort of fascination with them. Still, If Soundwave was as good a spy as everyone thought, he probably already knew about Steve's interest and if the TIC had chosen to do nothing with this information, chances were Steve was safe. Until that morning that was. It could have been anything, starting from just his name to places on his frame where he wanted those data cables to be jacked in. That last thought made Steve shiver with fresh wave of embarrassment. Sadly his teammates had not been nice enough to bestow the candid details of his somniloquy so he was left guessing.

Just great, but then again, he had not gone this far in this war by being a coward. It was time for damage control and the best option was to clear things with the TIC himself.

He arrived to the command bridge and, as expected, Soundwave was busy at work. He did not spare a glance towards the newcomer, his assistants, however, did.

Steve stalled, stood there awkwardly and then rapidly backpedaled. Ok, perhaps a public apology would not work with this many witnesses. Time to change strategy.

Serengeti caught up with Steve in the mess hall. -"Hey there, loverwings."

-"Ser', I could really go without your remarks now."

-"Hey, chill, I know for a fact that Mina fancies Laserbeak."

-"So?" Steve was glum.

-"I guess what I am trying to say is that these things happen and it is not the end of the world."

Steve groaned and hit his forehead against the table before him with such enthusiasm it clanged. -"I just wanted to apologise to him." he mumbled into the table.

-"Well then, do it."

-"I can't, he is always with somebody and I just feel too self-conscious to do it before audience."

-"You think you will feel braver telling this to Soundwave alone?" The question was rhetorical, of course he would not, nobody save Megatron would.

Another groan from Steve confirmed his statement.

Several days passed and his teammates kept on teasing his nightly talks about Soundwave. He was somewhat hesitant to believe this as their descriptions of what he had said grew more florid with each passing day but well, damage was still there.

That was until one evening Steve finally managed catching the elusive TIC on command bridge alone.

Ok, so far so good, he cleared his throat trying to at least announce his presence and immediately felt stupid for it because Soundwave had likely heard if not seen his approach.

-"Sir Soundwave, Sir..." Steve stammered, feeling his bravado deflating with each passing second.

Soundwave glanced over his shoulder strut before continuing his work.

 _Good job, Steve_. The eradicon mentally reprimanded himself.

-"Sir, Soundwave. Sir, I wanted to, uh, apologize for.." For what exactly? It was not like he had intended to say anything and sleeping and dreaming was not against the ship rules. Steve stuttered and watched in mute horror as one of those data cables unlatched from the console and extended in his direction. Soundwave himself remained focused on his task.

The poor eradicon almost leaked his hydraulic fluid then and there, his hand found the button for the doors to open behind him; he backed out, fell over and scrambled down the hallway.

He calmed down only when he had found his barracks.

-"How did it go?" Lucy asked this time, the rest of his team just continued staring at him in anticipation.

-"I-I think he wants to offline me." Steve crumbled and collapsed on his berth.

* * *

Thank you for reading!

Are you familiar with the Broadway musical 'Alexander Hamilton'? If not, goodness, you should totally check it out.


	2. Chapter 2

So this is some sort of a speed-story.

Yep, plot bunnies multiplying, also, remember when I said there were going to be no deep thoughts here?

I lied.

* * *

-"BreakdownBreakdownBreakdown!" Steve barrelled down the hall once he saw a speck of that wide blue frame.

-"Hey there, little guy." The bruiser was so nice it melt the eradicon's spark. If only all his superiors could be so relatable. Especially certain TICs.

-"I need your advice. Ergh, what happened to your optic?"

The blue mech sighed and shrugged. -"Life, I guess, the Earth kind. You had something on your mind, right?"

-"Sorry for that. I did but if this is not a good time it can wait." Steve poured his words hoping that if he told them faster it would somehow undo the damage. Breakdown waved him off and gave him an encouraging smile.

-"You see, I want to apologize to one of the officers and I do not know how."

Breakdown looked sincerely surprised by this. - "You did something to one of the officers that would warrant an apology and you are still online?"

-"I did not exactly do anything." Steve told Breakdown the entire shebang and, surprisingly, the bruiser had managed dissipating most of the eradicon's worries.

-"Steve, if he meant to do anything you would have been a pile of parts in some uncharted oceanic rift already. Just let it go." What Breakdown earnestly thought was that the life-expectancy of vehicons was far too small for the poor thing to worry himself about such issues. Not that mentioning this to Steve would have helped matters.

The following week his team was out on energon scouting mission. Steve was happy to be out of Nemesis where he felt constantly watched, yes, even when he slept, which meant he did not indulge much in that activity. Perhaps he was just paranoid...

Autobots had found the location as well and were launching an offensive. Team Viktor did a good job on fending them off but sadly Mina had taken a hit to the spark and Viktor himself was functional albeit grounded. The reinforcements were coming and Steve and the rest of his team landed to clear the perimeter.

A shade passed over them and as one they looked up, Soundwave landed in the clearing in his characteristic, subdued grace. To Steve it seemed like he had seen a cyber-angel. A dark, creepy, spiky sort of cyber-angel. He quickly regained his senses when Serengeti had helpfully smacked the back of his helm.

-"Focus, Steve!"

So the energon run had not been just that, apparently there was a relic to be retrieved which explained the involvement of Soundwave. Steve would miss Mina and Viktor surely would need some helping to get to the med bay, he was just relieved that the rest of their team were well.

A ground bridge flashed to life, Lucy and Serengeti helped Viktor up and Steve picked up Mina's lifeless frame, already graying in his hands. He was the last to follow through the ground bridge, Soundwave at his side, perhaps a little too close for comfort. If anything TIC did not seem to pay attention to this and they walked through the portal.

Steve was about to bring Mina's body to the mortuary when he distinctly felt claws latch on the back of his helm, he did not have a moment to utter a sound before the data tendrils invaded his cranial port and his vision failed him.

Steve onlined in his berth, Viktor and Lucy grinned at him. -"You were at it again, Steve!" They chorused, clearly referring to his sleeptalking.

Steve rubbed his helm and looked around, Serengeti was nowhere to be seen, Viktor sported a couple of fresh weld-marks but was no worse for wear otherwise and Mina's berth was obviously empty.

-"How did I get here?"

-"You were here when we returned from med bay." Victor clarified, -"You brought Mina to mortuary, remember?" And therein lay the problem - he did not. Steve staggered up and braced himself as he swayed on his feet.

This made no sense, and there was a small chance that Mina's body was still lying somewhere in corridors of Nemesis. Unsettled, he bid his mates farewell and ventured into the halls. If anything he should at least properly lay Mina to rest first. His search returned no dead bodies which normally was good thing but today he wished that he could have located just one. With his search yielding no results he went to mortuary and discovered that Mina's frame had been safely placed among others. Silent, grey and dead. So he had done it but he did not remember how.

Steve rubbed the back of his helm, racking his memory and noticed fresh scratches around his cranial port. Those had not been there before, that was it, to the medbay he went.

* * *

Thank you once more for reading and sticking around!

The key word is inception


	3. Chapter 3

Plot bunnies, gotta hop with them while they last

* * *

-"But they can't be normal, I did not have them before. I would have remembered."

Steve was not happy with Knock Out's brushing him off but he was put before a simple factual truth - if he was in a good state of repair, which he was, he had no place in medbay. Explanations would need to wait for another time.

Steve was doing his patrol rounds a few days later. He walked down the corridor rubbing his helm absentmindedly and tallied up his observations - his cranial port had scratches, he was not in pain, even grief he would have felt over Mina's passing was somewhat distant, like it was there but it could not quite touch him. Did it make him a bad person? He had to ask how others felt about it or he would never know. The only thing that was missing was the chunk of time after they crossed the ground bridge that day. Also he had one other thing he wanted to do but he could not quite remember.

He was about to turn to the corner to continue on his path when he heard muted voices, or rather a hushed monologue.

-"Look, I know you want to help but can you be more, uh, discrete about it?"

That had been Knock Out, the absence of a verbal answer suggested that the counterpart had been... Yes, Steve was supposed to round that corner and he did walk in on Knock Out and Soundwave having some sort of verbal interaction but what else had he been supposed to do? It was not like he was eavesdropping on purpose.

A bob of helm and "Sir" in acknowledgment, Steve meekly continued on his duty. He chanced a quick glance behind only to see Sounwave's visor fixated on him. Ooh, joy, he noted to himself sarcastically but then again, there was no denying a thrill of excitement that ran down his back strut, the TIC _Was_ looking at him or at least in his general direction.

Steve measured his steps forcing them to be calm and was fully aware that he did a poor job of that. He continued that way regardless until he was to round another corner. Only then did he let his plating relax, vents flaring open to dispel the hot charged air, he was safe now and also somewhat embarrassed.

The evening brought no respite - Lucy had gotten into a skirmish with insecticons and now only sported half a faceplate. The other half was covered by a medical patch - courtesy of Breakdown.

Lucy was avoiding the CMO for time being because along with ticking off the insecticons he had also managed simultaneously getting on the bad side of Knock Out, something about scratched paint job - an equivalent of high treason as far as the medic was concerned. This meant that the patch was there to stay until the medic was calm enough to replace the busted optic without any additional 'modifications'.

-"Look at the bright side, you'll be exempt from any missions for a while now." Serengeti noted, he had returned to their shared quarters with peculiar scratches on his hip and torso plating. Well, _Someone_ had to make up for the inactivity on his team.

-" How is your progress with tall, dark and gruesome, by the way?" Typical Viktor.

-" The predacon?" Steve was glib, yep, lately life on Nemesis had become much more interesting.

With an impatient sound Serengeti practically pinned him on spot.-" Spit it out Loverwings."

-" Can you maybe not call me that? Especially with so little evidence to back that up?"

Serengeti tilted his helm sideways to inspect the state of Steve's cranial port. -" How about the evidence on the back of your head?"

Steve made an expression that passed for an eradicon version of a frown. -" I cleared it wight Knock Out, he said it was normal, ok?"

-" Yeah, normal for what?" Serengeti laughed -" There are not that many ways you can get scratches all the way up there if you are off-duty."

This made Steve pause, that missing chunk from his memory…. Serengeti caught him before he stumbled and gently led him to berth. -"Goodness, calm down will you, it is not like it is unusual." If anything that made Steve even more anxious.

-" Yeah, I got some too recently." Viktor pointed at his helm and indeed, there were slight radial streaks originating from four points around his port.

-" B-but don't you think it is at least a little strange? Not to say non-consensual?" At least Steve was getting equal parts anxious and angry, they did not seem worried at all. This had horrible connotations to their TIC and he really, Really did not want to associate them with the mech he had a crush on. Time to investigate.

* * *

Ok, so that looks compromising, but I promise it is not as bad as it sounds.

Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Ahems, this is becoming way too serious for the initial motivation which was, well, SW and Steve kicking it off.

* * *

Steve was a methodical mech, or at least, as methodical as eradicons went. First he asked his fellow aerial squad-mates about the symptoms he and Viktor had. Unsurprisingly this yielded mixed results because cranial ports were considered a delicate matter. Thus Steve was left to observations alone. Conversations started from unsuccessful attempts of examining their ports and sneaking up from behind only resulted in alienating his peers.

Two weeks into his self-imposed task and his teammates begged him to stop because They were now starting to be associated with "Steve, the creepy weirdo". It was high time he broadened his search or at least, took it out of aerial quarters.

This left vehicons (insecticons he did not even consider because like pit Anyone would want to prance around Their processors) and vehicons were...difficult at best. Their relations followed every textbook aerial-grounder stereotype.

-"Can we please talk?"

-"Oh, I thought you flight frames were too good to talk to us ground pounders."

-"No, no it is a... survey I am doing on Breakdown's behalf about the superficial injuries and scratches to the helm area." Now that was a bucket of hot slag but invoking Breakdown's name almost always got positive results. Surprise, surprise, he wished he had thought of this strategy before. He discovered same kinds of scratches on vehicon helms as well.

Now who to approach about this? Megatron was out of question, Knock Out as CMO was responsible for wellbeing of the crew but if anything he probably conspired with Soundwave for some perks. Starscream was the head of the aerial eradicon forces but he was very unlikely to get involved in something that had very low personal payback ratio. Steve needed someone who genuinely cared and that was … Breakdown who also had told him to let go of the matter.

Risky as it was, the most straightforward course of action was just confronting Soundwave about this. The TIC was not known for terminating those he disliked on personal basis, but Steve had no illusions about his position on Nemesis. Eradicons went offline all the time, he could be just another casualty if Soundwave decided he was too troublesome.

The other issue was his jitteriness. How could he hope to confront the mech if he stuttered even when he attempted to draw the TIC's attention.

This matter was bigger than him, he reprimanded himself. Armed with this conviction and a week's worth of remorse and frustration he once again entered the command bridge, this time being certain that Soundwave would be alone.

-"Sir? I need you to answer a couple of questions for me." Steve mentally congratulated himself on the bold entrance.

Soundwave was not quick to react though; it seemed he was still processor-deep in mainframe.

-"Uh, sir?" Steve observed as Laserbeak detached from her perch to flit a lazy loop around the eradicon. -"Hey, uh, is the boss home?" He now directed his question to the little flying drone who looped around him again and then docked on the chest of its carrier.

 _"-...a couple of questions…"_ Soundwave startled him by playing back the recording of his own voice. Steve's processor stalled, now Soundwave was standing in front of him, facing him, the eradicon had not even seen him move. The TIC's mask reflected Steve's faceplates, for better or worse now he had Soundwave's full attention.

-"Yes!" Steve almost shouted out in agitation and then steadied himself before resuming speech. -"I have suspicions that you may have been tampering with the memory data of the troops. I do not blame you." He countered quickly to sound less confrontational, he wanted to emerge from this with helm on shoulders. -"But I am not entirely comfortable with it."

To this Soundwave only tilted his helm to the side as if questioning.

-"To be honest I am not comfortable with this at all." At this point Steve did not know what he had expected but the dark mech remained silent, so Steve decided that he might as well continue. -"Many of the troops carry marks on their helms and report memory loss. To my knowledge there is only one mech on Nemesis in possession of equipment that would create such marks."

Discouraged, Steve stopped and gauged for reaction but Soundwave gave none, it felt like talking to a brick wall. Out of sense of self preservation Steve glanced to both his sides for any sign of those sneaky data cables and took a small step back before he finished his point. -"That mech is you, sir." He had braced himself for what he was about to say but still his words were so breathy they might have been a whisper.

Soundwave had not moved an inch but something in his posture transmitted amusement. He turned away and calmly returned to the console.

Steve did not know what to do; Soundwave was known to ignore mechs who wasted his time but this was a matter of importance. -"Why do you do that?!"

Soundwave plugged his data cable into the console and called up an image of a glowing dot which Steve recognized as a representation of a spark. The dot then separated into a cluster of smaller dots, each one of them landing in a mesh shape of an eradicon, a glowing dot in chest.

Steve was familiar with spark splitting but he could not fathom why Soundwave was showing him this.

The next display showed that spark fractions were interconnected, the effect of removing a couple of fractions (which in real life meant vehicons offlining) resulted in reaction of the entire network. Next, Soundwave pulled up several videos where vehicons and eradicons alike were shown clutching their chests, warbling or acting erratically. In short, the severed connections were detrimental, they hurt and caused symptoms similar to a loss of a spark-split twin. To vehicons, however, it would happen over and over again until the last member of the spark-batch was offline.

Realization dawned on Steve -"You made us forget so we would not suffer?"

Soundwave, though his back still was facing Steve, nodded once.

Steve felt speechless, the unexpected kindness, if not intrusive, was considerate. What he wondered was why, but that would need to wait for another day as the TIC had returned to his previously interrupted task.

* * *

I hope you are not too disappointed for the sudden change of tone, something as grave as violating mental sanctity had to have a pretty damn good reason. I promise it will go back to it's previous flirty/silly setting soon enough.

Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Just as promised - back to vehicon day-to-day life. Unlike the previous part this chapter just happened and I am happy for it.

* * *

-"What's the matter Steve? It's unlike you to be so mopey." Viktor slid into the seat next to the fellow eradicon in the mess hall.

\- "Yeah, why the long slats?" Serengeti plopped in on the other side of the bench.

-"He's spark broken, I can feel it." Lucy stated as he settled on the opposite side of the table.

\- "Did the Jeepers Creepers brush you off or something?"

\- "Speak with us mech."

Steve ducked his helm between his shoulders and sighed. The onslaught was too much but they did mean well - " No, he did not."

-"Oh." Lucy now slid a cube of home-brewed spiced energon his way. -"Care to elaborate then?"

-"He is just too much of everything. I do not think I could keep up."

\- "Huh? I would not have coined Mr. Spy as the high maintenance kind but now that you mention it..."

-"No. I mean, I do not know. He is brilliant, I feel so foolish even trying to start anything with him."

-"Seriously? You will not even try because you are insecure?" Lucy eyed him speculatively.

Steve was getting frustrated -"Yes?! Is that not a good enough reason?"

Queue groan from everybody else involved.

-"Is he seeing someone? Or, dunno, against relationships or something?" Serengeti continued. -"Before you get all invested perhaps clear that out."

-"I can't just outright ask him." Steve wrung his hands. -" And if I did and if he was all that it would just be awkward from there on."

-"How do you know he is not interested?" Viktor asked.

-"Why would he be? I mean, there are hundreds of us here, we all look fairly similar and perform similar functions I mean…"

Viktor stopped him there -"You are getting into a loop, mech, that is not helping."

-"Yeah, how about you actually broaden your scope huh?" Surprisingly it was Serengeti who offered something constructive.

-"You mean like, other mechs?" Steve was dumbfounded.

-"No, dumbaft, I mean other functions. You know it is an option right?"

That day Steve learnt that he in fact could do something more. Since eradicons tended to get offlined fairly often there was a need for fresh influx of assistants and the ones who got good enough were more valuable in office than on the field.

-"You could pick up ground bridges or like 'comm techs and be closer to your sparkthrob, y'know. Get to know him better and perhaps learn a thing or two on the way." Serengeti shrugged. -" 's strategy and all, which is why I am in the tactical unit with our dear Air Commander."

Now everyone turned to stare at Serengeti instead.

-"You mean you are into Him?" Lucy looked skeptical about the entire thing but Serengeti was one of the most laid-back 'cons he had ever met so it almost made sense.

Serengeti shrugged. -"Nay, just like being alive too much."

Silence settled over the group as each of them mulled over that last candid bit. The loss of Mina was still fresh in their processors and they glanced at each other conspiratorially.

-"I say, let us try pulling through this slag alive." Viktor finally said. -"Pick up a function and study the pit out of it until we are no mere cannon fodder anymore." That sent a wave of agreement over the rest of their small group. -"Consider this an order from your team leader."

Applying was trickier than anticipated. The openings were there but only once the mech who carried out the previous function had been offlined and there was a need for a replacement.

Serengeti already had a spot so he did not apply but Steve got lucky after a skirmish on the main deck. He volunteered as a trainee for communication system maintenance, which in theory would place him closer to Soundwave. He was beside himself with excitement only to find out that his primary function was repairing the communications reception antennae on the Exterior of the Nemesis…

::Slag…:: Steve cursed on their private comm-line. He was a week into duty and it was gruelling and cold.

::What's up, smowflake?:: Serengeti was off duty at the moment and clearly enjoyed the exchange.

::Oh, Shut up. Did you know that the previous mech offlined not because of being shot but because he slaggin' froze?::

::I would invest in some antifreeze.:: Lucy countered wisely. ::Ask Knock Out, he may have some.::

::No, seriously, my first task was removing his frozen chassis from one of the antennae!:: Steve ranted.

::So messed up!:: Serengeti was clearly enjoying it more than he should have. ::Look at the bright side, now you are the one doing it.::

::You mean freezing? Because if so, I am doing a fine job on that.::

::Guys, can you keep it down? I am in the middle of a sparring match and you are distracting me.:: Viktor finally joined the conversation.

::Sorry Vik!::

::Oh, before we switch off, I think I will be joining the med-bay.:: Lucy quipped and got a cheer from everyone.

::If you get to know which treats Laserbeak likes would you tell me?:: Steve's voice chirped, staticky from cold.

::Ooh, playing dirty!::

::Guys!::

::Sorry Vik!::

* * *

Yep, the eradicons decided to hack the system and get laid in the same time.

Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

What's this? A new chapter? So soon? How come?

Well, dear readers, I am a people pleaser.

Without further ado, Welcome to chapter 6 where everyone makes fun of Steve.

* * *

Team Viktor was busy at work. They would complete their shifts but their off-time was when the real deal began. Lucy was doing good in the medbay. The reason why he was accepted was a more sombre matter. Breakdown had gone missing and Knock Out needed another pair of servos. Everyone in the eradicon quarters was mourning the sudden disappearance because more often than not it would have meant a fatality.

His absence was felt equally with the red medic, Knock Out had gone morose about almost everything that was not his direct line of duties so Lucy's presence was very much appreciated. It was appreciated even more when he had somehow gotten his hands on some of the information on Soundwave or rather, his little affiliate. Nothing too serious to significantly jeopardize the anonymity of the patient, but some useful tidbits nonetheless. Laserbeak's favorite treat, for instance, which she was usually given after sustaining heavy injury to lighten her mood.

...

-"How are you feeling?" Lucy asked while he fossicked in the cupboards in pursuit of iron supplements and some antiseptic solvent. Viktor got badly injured during his mine supervision duties and now was recuperating in med bay. Lucy had informed the rest of the team and clearly that warranted a visit.

-"Considering that Steve just joined us, much better." Viktor responded somewhere underneath the medical equipment that obscured half his frame.

Steve grumbled examining the long, viscous tendrils of goo that clung to his frame. He had been repairing one of the receptor dishes on the flight deck when their resident Predacon decided to play with him. -"Am I contagious?"

-"It is a possibility, I think Shockwave would probably know better." Lucy mixed a small package of supplements into a med-grade energon solution and handed it to Viktor.

-"What is this exactly?" Serengeti poked at the wobbly translucent streaks, wincing slightly as they stuck to his digit. -"Did the big guy get too friendly?"

-"That, is probably the most disturbing thing I have heard all day, congrats, Ser." Steve accepted a bottle of antiseptic and a rag from Lucy and started rubbing a patch on his arm. -"Is this supposed to sting?"

-"Why don't you just visit the wash racks?" Lucy crossed arms over his chest and regarded him skeptically.

-"I did! For all the difference it made now I at least smell clean." Steve protested being equal parts annoyed and embarrassed with the goop wobbling all around him.

-"What in the…!" All eradicons turned as one, Knock Out was in the building and he was not happy, in fact he looked like he had just been hit by a train. The mere sight of his medbay being overrun by a squad of eradicons all in different states of … .ohHolyPrimus what happened to that one? The dregs of Knock Out's patience evaporated.

-"You." The grounder pointed at Lucy, -"Prepare the decontamination mixture, I want to have this bay scrubbed clean."

Then Knock Out's belligerent half-glare landed on Steve -"Whatever happened to you, go find Shockwave before I personally throw you into the autoclave."

-"You, just get out." The red medic gave Serengeti's freshly-polished chassis a withering glare.

-"No, you stay." Knock Out pointed at the prone Viktor who had taken upon himself to remove his presence from the room before the medic helped him.

...

-"Woo, somebody scratched up his paint good." Serengeti trotted up to Steve's side while he was making his miserable way down to Shockwave's lab.

-"Could you accompany me to Shockwaves'? I really feel uncomfortable going alone."

-"My shift starts in half an hour but I will stay as long as I can. So what happened?"

-"Remember that broken satellite dish?"

-"Did you forget about the newest addition to the circus that is Nemesis?"

-"Not my fault, Starscream pissed him off first."

...

Some time later after a decontamination bath and some thorough scrubbing Steve had gotten away from Shockwave's lab and had paid a visit to Starscream's domain instead. This time he had secured a pile of datapads for their extra-hour reading, it contained manuals on mech circuitry, Theory of communication system encryption and intro to biomechanics. It had been Viktor's turn to retrieve the reading material, but he remained in med bay for time being.

Steve was roused from his thoughts when out of the blue a pad landed neatly on top of the others he was carrying. He looked around the corridor to see where the mystery item had come from and spotted Laserbeak hovering above him.

-"Hey there, did you drop this?"

The little flier tittered and flew off. Curious, Steve examined the new addition to the pile - a cook book? Such an off-thing to have during war time. He had suspicions that edition came from Laserbeak's personal stash if tiny sets of scratches adorning the opaque parts of the device were anything to go by, but why? Gears clicked in his helm...but of course, he was not the only one gathering information.

Steve was surprised by this shift in his paradigm. Before he would have fretted over being discovered but now all this information triggered was curiosity and amusement. This little demonstration could have been nothing else but an invitation to a game, a spy game. Excited, Steve subspaced the pad and headed to the eradicon quarters.

* * *

Apologies for my slapstick humor,

Soundwave is high maintenance but not a regular type of high maintenance because he is special like that. And so am I, therefore I demand reviews.

Thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Welcome to chapter 7 in which magic happens and Someone is held accountable.  
Also if you have ever played with Meccano construction sets or Konstruktor (for those of you from the Eastern block, like myseslf) you might experience a stroll down the memory lane.

* * *

Responding to challenge or 'Courting Soundwave' how Steve liked to think of it, was trickier than expected. For one, he quickly realized he could not do it on his own for lack of resources. Even a task as easy as creating an energon treat required an oral cavity or at least presence taste receptors to be able to evaluate the quality of the end-product.

He also had to keep it a secret if he ever wanted to succeed. He did not know how Soundwave felt about public displays of affection but Steve had a strong hunch their game had to remain discreet until agreed otherwise. This meant he had to improvise.

-"OK, so which frametype is Starscream?" Steve sat with a data pad in his lap, performing a mini-test for Lucy.

-"Flight frame, F-16 Fighting Falcon, high performance engine, tank capacity - 14 cubic mechanometers per solar cycle."

-"And?" Steve prompted.

-"Currently super annoyed." Serengeti finished for them.

-"Enter captain obvious." Lucy said without even lifting his optic band.

-"He really liked that candy though." That caught Steve's attention. -"Said it was an old recipe from Polyhex which was quite popular among Vosians."

-"Did he say anything else?" Steve was curious now, excited to get more pieces of the puzzle which constituted Soundwave. Apparently, nothing else of value, which was to be expected, Steve never imagined this would be easy.

-"I still cannot believe you got him to eat it." Lucy mumbled while poring over his notes to see what he had missed in frame classification.

-"How about we try with our Communications officer next, bet Steve wants to hear all about _His_ frame specs." Serengeti mentioned with a glint in his optic. Steve gave him an stinkeye but Lucy obligingly counted down what he knew.

-"Flight frame, likely reformatted, human alt mode: MQ-9 Reaper, Symbionts: 5, 1 remaining online, engine performance: unknown, tank capacity: unknown, fuel consumption: 7 cubic mechanometers per solar cycle on active duty, 2 cubic mechanometers off-duty."

Steve was surprised - 4 offlined symbionts; if they were anything like spark-split eradicons that would explain how Soundwave had so much compassion towards them, he had experienced the same terror of spark links going silent.

There was a sudden pang of protectiveness and a will to nurture in Steve's spark, despite how unrealistic it was; he wanted Soundwave to be his to protect.

* * *

It took a while for Steve to figure out a clever way of delivering the energon goodies. He could have just left them at Soundwave's door but that would have been boring not to mention that about anyone could stumble on them in the corridor or even worse - step on them.

He could have approached Laserbeak but that would be too easy, furthermore there was no guarantee that the goodies would actually reach Soundwave if Laserbeak was as fond of them as Steve had been lead to believe.

There had to be another way, he looked around himself for inspiration and his vision landed on a cellulose-based human data pad which sported a nearly-written Cybertronian translation of the title "The Art of Bonsai" on the surface. Viktor was into human aesthetics and especially miniature gardens, Steve could work with that.

* * *

Early next morning Soundwave entered the command bridge, taking a sweeping look at the consoles. Nothing seemed to be out of place but he had a vague sense that something was off. He usually preferred starting before his crew so that he could distribute their workload before they manned the stations. This allowed him to perform his own tasks more efficiently but it also required complete order.

Slightly irritated he switched his visor to overlay the picture of the previous evening to root out the cause for visual disturbance. It was subtle but it was there and it annoyed him.

Laserbeak chittered, having located the offending object. From distance it looked like a piece of Cybertronian flora. Intrigued, Soundwave scanned the object and immediately concluded that it had not been of Cybertronian origin or flora, for that matter. Though it did try very hard to be.

The pronged contraption was hand-made from metal strips, plates, and gears that were connected together using nuts and bolts. On tip of each pronged part sat a small object wrapped in white foil, edges of the wrapper were shaped to resemble petals. Soundwave had to admit it had a certain aesthetic appeal to it.

Laserbeak hovered around the thing, prodding at it impatiently. Soundwave fixed her with a questioning stare and the little avian wilted a bit.

 _::Confess::_

 _::Polyhexian Treats::_ Laserbeak whined in a way which implied it was all the motivation one should have.

Soundwave did not bother asking for a clarification, he already knew.

 _::Laserbeak wants to be courted by the eradicon?::_

The cassette sputtered in protest. Laserbeak was not averse to using the attentions of the troops to her carrier to get small, personal perks. Usually it was fairly harmless but that morning Soundwave felt it had gone too far.

 _::Order: Laserbeak explain full motivation for actions to the eradicon.::_

Pure, undiluted embarrassment flooded Laserbeak's part of the connection. Soundwave allowed a small pang of satisfaction about it and returned to assigning tasks to his team. Steve's gift remained on his console untouched.

* * *

Soundwave didnot see Laserbeak all day until the chastised avian docked back on his chest that evening. She had been too embarrassed to do what Soundwave had asked of her. It amazed him how brave his little symbiont could be in battle and how utterly mortified she was when it came to facing the consequences of her mischief. He watched her feed as she had attempted approaching the eradicon, on several occasions and always had faltered at the last moment.

In Soundwave's mind the punishment had been enough to dissuade her from doing it in the future. But he was still left to deal with the fallout.

He delved a bit more into his records on this particular eradicon who's alias was 'Steve'. His behavior was indicative of a lower-ranking soldier and did not surprise Soundwave as much as his most recent expansion of responsibilities and his pursuit of knowledge. The TIC remembered their exchange on command bridge and how Steve had conducted his own little investigation and demanded a response which Soundwave, as a high-ranking official could have denied of even punished as insubordination. Interesting...

Curiously, he reached for one of the wrapped energon goodies still sitting on the pronged 'sculpture'. He scanned the piece concluding that it contained no harmful additives. Soundwave identified it as one of the insufferably sweet treats which his tanks did not tolerate well. With a mild ex-vent he beckoned Laserbeak to disengage from her dock and offered her a piece of the delicacy. He could feel her delight dim a bit when he closed his fingers around the treat.

 _::Treat: under condition::_

Laserbeak chirred in annoyance but let Soundwave elaborate.

 _:: Laserbeak will not interfere unless asked::_

After a good moment of hesitation, Laserbeak pinged her confirmation and Soundwave unfurled his digits.

* * *

Steve - Laserbeak got you hook, line and sinker, I am ashamed of you

Soundwave is not as fond of bonsai as he is of clouds (spoiler alert)

Thank you for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Yo guys it is almost Christmas! Greetings y'all and welcome to chapter 8 where some reciprocation takes place and we witness a pile of eradicons.

* * *

Steve was hanging off one of the antennas, his task that day was circuitry maintenance on the receptor cluster on the front of the Nemesis' spiky hull. He was bitter and cold until he saw a slender navy flight frame dart off the flight deck, followed by a smaller speck of navy. Steve watched the two fliers engage in aerial acrobatics. He had never seen Soundwave perform such stunts but then again, the TIC was not in field often enough and showing off was more in Starscream's domain. This, however, looked like flight for pure enjoyment and not a staged performance though it might have been, just on merit of how graceful it was.

Soundwave shot vertically into the air to an insane altitude and then transformed into his root mode, free-falling viror-first. Steve's spark skipped a spin and he almost lost hold of the antenna he had been perched on. For a moment he scrambled to do something, anything, Soundwave would offline falling from such altitude! Then he narrowed his optic band; the fall looked suspiciously controlled and Laserbeak also did not show any signs of distress. Soundwave was not falling, not exactly, he was gliding, using the flat surface of his arms.

Moments later he disappeared into an upper part of a dense, towering cloud which they had come to associate with electric storms.

Moments later the navy form of the spy emerged again - this time in his aerial mode, streaks of white vortices trailing from his wingtips. It was far but Steve thought he saw small currents of electricity dancing across the dark plating.

Steve's processor stalled, the act in itself was not sensual but it carried all the implications. His faceplates burned and he did not dare to move for fear of being discovered. Mesmerized, he watched Soundwave fly measured laps around Laserbeak in a downward spiral. What Steve would not have given to be the focus of that attention.

His internal sensors pinged him - he had outstayed his welcome outdoors. The receptor cluster was in working order and his systems were warning him of impending freeze-up. He used the service ladder to get to the nearest hatch when an uncomfortable idea wormed its way to his processor. What if that mech who froze on one of the antennae weeks ago had been observing Soundwave for longer than his systems could take? Speak of the deadly beauty, the eradicon shuddered and hurried towards the hatch.

Moments later he felt a strong gust of wind followed by white specks of ice crystals raining on him. Steve lifted his helm to see the tail end of the retreating MQ-9 Reaper followed closely by Laserbeak, heading back towards the flight deck. The eradicon shuddered, had he been caught staring? He quickly ducked into the service shaft and pulled the cover closed.

Steve needed to warm up but his protesting systems stalled and tried to delay him in all possible ways - joints jamming, the flow of energon slowing down. Finally he reached the wash racks and submerged under a spray of warm solvent, expelling the remains of the freezing air from his vents and enjoying the slight pangs his plating emitted as it heated up. Images of Soundwave's svelte frame were still fresh in Steve's processor and his claws drifted towards the transformation seams on his chest. Suddenly aware of himself, he stopped before he did anything deemed inappropriate for common washrooms.

When he trotted into their shared barracks he noticed his 3 other team-mates huddled together. Apparently Viktor had been let out of medbay and that required a group - pile.

-"Hey Vik!"

It took only a moment for Steve to be included, it always felt so peaceful and safe being like this.

After a moment spent in the comforting embrace of humming sparks and warm plating (thank goodness) he got a prompt on the service frequency to examine malfunction at one of the communication docks. Unhappily he unraveled himself from the amicable closeness. For someone on the ship with a niche specialization he had to be constantly on call; on the bright side he spent only half as much time actually on field and in direct line of danger. Not a bad trade-off by any eradicon standards.

No matter how uncalled for, there was not much to do about it, Steve got going. The dock in question was stationed at the aft of the ship, close to the mortuary. A place frequented by few and rumored to house monsters, according to the legends sprouted by living on board of Nemesis for too long. The stories merited some recognition as stillness and eeriness of the place made Steve's plating tense more securely around his protoform.

What if someone attacked him here? His processor reeled and he cast little glances behind him and listened more carefully to his own echoing footsteps. His one hand instinctively turned into a blaster just in case.

Despite his agitation he reached the dock without incident and there most certainly was something wrong with it. It displayed an error message and Steve had to punch in his personal maintenance ID code to access the error log. Moments later the dock opened one of the ports and something shiny and tubular fell out and rolled at Steve's foot.

He jumped in agitation, pointing his blaster at the object but seeing that it was not about to attack him, he leaned down to inspect the smooth metal flask which, according to how it felt in his hand, contained a liquid of some sort. Bizzare...

Steve returned to the ports and, surely enough, found no further fault with the connection; the error message was gone too and the checks on the dock came back clean; that had been it. Why would anyone put anything there? Curious, Steve wandered to the med bay to ask Lucy to run some scans on the flask for him.

-"Where did you get this?"

-"It was jammed up the data dock I inspected earlier today."

Lucy gave him a long stare and then got back to business -"Ok, so this is a jet-grade antifreeze. I think only Starscream, Dreadwing and Soundwave get to use that for high-altitude flights."

Oh...OH! Steve's plating flared and then clamped in rapid succession, making Lucy eye him questioningly. Could it have been…

-"Whoever was using that dock, had been careless."

Docks could be used by anyone with sufficient authorization but the data ports were a modification in place specifically for Soundwave and he was anything but careless. Steve's spark spun just a little bit faster.

-"Do you think I could use it for my next maintenance assignment on exterior of Nemesis?"

-"Sure, just pop by when you need it put in. Since we do not usually do high-alt surveying our frames do not have an automatic port for this so I will have to introduce it manually via drip. Just keep it hush-hush, we are not supposed to have this stuff.

* * *

For some reason I enjoy making snarky comments about my own work so here goes:

End snark: Soundwave interfaces with electric storm clouds because his sex-toy collection got destroyed in an Autobot raid, this explains why he is so angry all the time. Also he is secretly a sugar glider.

Steve hangs out on the antennae like Luke Skywalker.

Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

Happy New Year, dear readers!  
And in line with the current calendar changes I think this chapter should mark a pivot point in the relations of our two favorite 'cons.

* * *

Steve spent the following maintenance shifts on the deck of Nemesis in relative comfort. It was still cold but his joints were pliant and mobile, his plating did not stick rigidly at odd angles and in general it felt Good. What felt even better was that he got to see Soundwave and Laserbeak stretch their wings a couple more times. If they knew he was watching, they paid no mind to his presence, drawing elaborate flight patterns against the sky.

Once finished with his repair work, he dangled his feet above the clouds wondering about what his next move towards Soundwave should be.

A squad of eradicons soared below him, headed by Dreadwing. Training flights, he had forgotten about those! Nimbly, he peeled off the hull of the Nemesis and made a little flip forwards, transforming mid-fall to join the squad.

::Steve! Report reason for lateness!:: Dreadwing commed him.

::Apologies sir, receptor dish maintenance had taken priority.::

::Make sure that does not happen again. Dismissed.::

Patrolling under Dreadwing was different, Steve concluded, not unpleasantly so. Compared to Starscream he was more level-headed but also more strict.

* * *

-"Did you hear that about Breakdown?" Serengeti asked at a later date, actually looking distressed for a change.

-"You mean him coming back from the dead?" Steve looked up from his tinkering work, he did hear that particular bit of trivia, also that Knock Out had not been the same and Lucy, well, Lucy was not very talkative as of late.

-"Yeah, I heard there was, like a parasite inside." Viktor supplied, having heard it among the eradicon team leaders.

-"Don't, please, too much. Uh." Steve waved his hand in direction of his team mates. The idea of something squishy and Organic inside his chassis and controlling him made his tanks churn.

-"What are you doing anyway?" Serengeti now peeked over Steve's shoulder, all curiosity and no restraint.

In the middle of Steve's berth sat a miniature biplane fashioned after terrestrial aircrafts he had seen in some of the picture files. Serengeti made a sound of approval as he examined the detailed work.

-"That is not all." Steve fiddled with a little switch and a data port opened on the underside of the craft. He had come up with a code which, after some hacking and tweaking (Steve was fairly certain Soundwave would not find cracking it difficult at all) revealed a rather simple message. It had taken some time to complete the code but it performed reliably after several test runs. Steve really hoped to impress Soundwave with that one.

-"Did you make him an interface toy?"

Everyone in their quarters gave Serengeti a blank stare.

-"No, it is Not an interface toy." Steve said slowly and Loudly. "In fact it is an old-fashioned way of data transfer, I guess like a human equivalent of a letter?"

-"With which he has to interface… cunning."

-"Shut up, Ser! Even if your assumption is true that would mean he also interfaces with the entire Nemesis on a daily basis."

-"Kinky. I had not thought of that but now this is permanently ebbed into my processor as a thing, thanks Steve!"

The eradicon in question made a strangled groan, why was murder of teammates frowned upon?

-"What does the data core contain?" The question was significant for many reasons but primarily, because it was voiced by the unusually quiet Lucy.

-"It is, ah, how would you call it? A meeting?"

-"You are asking Soundwave out on a date?"

* * *

Soundwave was roused from his defrag by waves of delight across his symbiotic bond. Despite the legends Soundwave rarely pulled all-nighters unless it was crucial. With his data processing speed and volume he needed short bouts of defragmentation throughout the day to ensure peak performance. Hence this required him to stay on bridge longer, which fed into the legends about him never recharging.

Curious and slightly worried he devoted 5% of his processor capacity to latch onto the visual feed of what it was that amused Laserbeak.

From the perspective of his symbiont the contraption looked avian, but not alive and Human . His plating tensed suddenly; not another of those organic shenanigans, he was quite aware how disturbed the troops had been by the presence of Breakdown's reanimated body. Defrag or not he pulled the partially reassembled surveillance files together, scrambled the rest to finish at a later defrag session and focused on immediate restart.

 _::Stand by. Do not initiate contact::_

He sent a ping to his surveillance team to be on a lookout for possible security breaches and pulled his wary frame off the recharge slab.

In the meantime Laserbeak hovered curiously around the new...thing. She could not find a name for it in her processor. It had a propeller and it was spinning but the thing remained stationary, using basic antigrav mechanisms to remain in the air. It looked more or less like a dummy bot Laserbeak had used in her earlier aerial combat training days and she was not one to be dissuaded from having fun whenever she got any. She chirruped and flitted towards Soundwave when he appeared in the end of the corridor.

 _::Initial assessment?::_

 _::Toy::_

Soundwave did not consider a toy for Laserbeak too surprising, especially considering how thorough the eradicon appeared; it was insightful and therein suspicious. Soundwave examined the mechanism as closely as he could without touching. It was of Earthen origin, made of similar materials as the first offering he found on his work console some time ago.

He scanned the construct for first suspects - traps, organic parts and weapons. The tests came back clear apart from a peculiar data tag the construct broadcast.

That got Soundwave's attention, a tag usually indicated presence of encrypted information. Among other things, tags were like signatures of the message author and this tag was unfamiliar to Soundwave.

He quickly ran a search in his database both on Autobots and Decepticons and came up with a blank. This was a new coder, which was exciting in it's own right. If the code functioned and the eradicon had learnt it himself, he could potentially become more useful in control room. Soundwave wished he had more time to spend on the trinket but his presence was needed elsewhere. He pinged Laserbeak have her way with her new toy as long as the data it carried remained intact.

* * *

Soundwave was reluctant to dampen the enjoyment from his symbiont while working but it was distracting him hence, dampen it he did. Lack of defrag also tugged unpleasantly at his performance and hence he was more than happy to wind down his workload for the day.

Upon arrival to his quarters he noticed bits and bolts laying strewn across the floor. Laserbeak had managed shredding the delicate flight model to pieces and leaving only the dataport with attached memory core intact.

Needless to say that she had deciphered the code, corrected typos and made it readable.

 _::Content?::_

 _::Activation of interface protocols imminent.::_ She snickered and flitted teasingly just outside Soundwave's reach.

He ignored the cheeky remark and repeated the question. Laserbeak conceded this time.

 _::Proposal for a meeting from suitormech.::_

Soundwave had not anticipated the eradicon to make such a bold move so soon but eradicons...go figure.

He did demand the raw codes for his own inspection just in case Laserbeak had gotten inventive. As expected the coding was not as elegant as the ones written by professionals but it was functional. The message was short and unraveled on itself once Soundwave tinkered with it a bit, a feature of system architecture, he noted, not a glitch, nice.

Soundwave had to confirm this meeting if he was interested and lack of answer would be treated as a 'No' on his part.

Soundwave inclined his helm looking at Laserbeak.

 _::Personal assessment?::_ Laserbeak fluttered her flight-plates, feeling flattered at being consulted.

 _::Interaction with eradicon safe, uncomplicated, fun?::_

Soundwave remained motionless for a moment, weighing all the pros and cons, Laserbeak was not wrong and maybe the eradicon might prove to have more to him than just crazed interface protocols.

* * *

Needless to say that you may as well guess where this will go in a chapter or 2...

Soundwave and Laserbeak have no appreciation for pretty things. Steve probably spent forever on that little model biplane.

Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Hello and let this new chapter welcome you into the 2017!  
In line with all things new and shiny I got an idea of linking my 3 ongoing stories into one continuity. They would not reiterate but rather show different aspects of the one continuous timeline. Hence, some characters will appear in later chapters of other stories.  
Let me know what you think.

* * *

As of late Steve had accumulated something akin of a fan base. It had nothing to do with his exploits with Soundwave (thank Primus) and everything to do with energon goodies.

Word of mouth and a careless comment from Serengeti and the ship was abuzz with legends of this one elusive energon sweet maker. Steve preferred his low profile but should anyone ask him to make something he would not turn them down as long as the one demanding the sweet could secure the raw materials.

This lead to Starscream cornering Steve in corridor one day with a personal request of some Polyhexian confections. In exchange Steve asked if perhaps he could get a more appropriate workspace for his exploits; surprisingly the proud Air Commander sacrificed a small corner of his lab for Steve and some domestic comfort.

Having a semi-official workshop lead to even more requests; be it from vehicons or Laserbeak or Starscream himself. At certain point Steve found it difficult to keep up with his other exploits, he had made little progress on his coding skills, he was tired and barely focused on his communication dish maintenance duty. Worst of all - there was no answer from Soundwave and Steve started fearing he had somehow missed the message. He ran his processor hot trying to read into every little event or happening, looked in shady nooks and crannies, hoping, waiting, but nothing.

The news found him otherwise. Steve almost choked on his energon ration when Soundwave out of all mechs approached him in the mess hall and placed a set of elements on the table before him. Steve recognized those as ingredients needed for the recipe of the very first treats he had made.

Soundwave said nothing but his visor displayed the mesh structure of Laserbeak and highlighted certain parts of her body - she must have been injured during one of her missions!

-"Oh.." Steve choked out and adopted a look of a turbofox caught in headlights. When he failed to produce anything else, Viktor discretely jabbed him in the side. -"I mean… I'm sorry that happened...sir. H-how soon would you like them?"

Soundwave's visor lit up again, displaying a cybertronian glyph for "as soon as possible".

Steve got a hang of his vocalizer and rushed to respond. -"I will do my best, sir!" Admittedly a bit too loudly as a couple of vehicons turned to stare at the entire scene. Ignoring this, Soundwave turned on his heel and left as silently as he had come, leaving one flustered eradicon staring after him wishfully.

-"Nemesis to Steve?" Serengeti amusedly poked his team mate waiting for him to finally react. What he did not expect was Steve wordlessly gathering all the ingredients and skedaddling out of the mess hall as if his chassis were on fire.

Something was not adding up, Steve concluded in his little corner of Starscream's lab. Among the elements Soundwave supplied, Steve found a couple extra he could not wrap his processor around. In fact the 3 materials were something he was not familiar with hence he appealed to Starscream's expertise.

One was a thin, malleable silvery piece known as Erbium, the other was Silicon - something humans used for microchips and the last one was tricky to decipher but Starscream was pretty sure it was Yttrium due to its highly crystalline structure.

Steve flipped through the recipe pad worried that he had gotten Soundwave's message wrong but none of the redundant elements were used in any of the recipes. It had to be something else.

-"Erbium, Silicon, Yttrium…Yttrium, Erbium, Silicon..." Steve mumbled that evening, sitting on his berth.

-"You have been muttering this all day, Steve." Lucy noted, typing something on his pad. "Here, I wrote this down for you so you needn't repeat yourself."

-"It Has to be a message of some sort."

-"Don't encourage him Vik, or else we will not recharge tonight." Serengeti grumbled but then took a look at the pad Lucy had supplied and chuckled. -"Geesh, seriously? Look at this, I think this is all you wanted to know."

Steve stared at the 3 glyphs dispassionately, having rolled them in his processor all day already. Then he saw it...

"Yttrium

Erbium

Silicon"

-"Serengeti, I owe you something big and significant." Steve lifted the mech off his pedes and twirled him around with such enthusiasm that his chassis creaked. Steve's internal chronometer pinged him about the curing progress of his latest batch of confections and he released his disgruntled teammate. Viktor, Serengeti and Lucy amusedly observed as Steve bolted back to his berth to rummage in the space where he kept his more personal workshop supplies.

-"Whoa, hot wings, where are you off to?"

-"Things need to be done!" With that cryptic message Steve was out of their quarters.

Laserbeak laid on her support tray wrapped in her favourite soft fabrics. She did not like being injured but like pit was she going to pass up on all the pampering and attention. Her favorite treats came as a pleasant surprise, which she converted into an affectionate ping to Soundwave. The reply was a cautious "call me if anything happens" sort of message but Laserbeak doubted that was a concern, at least not from the besotted eradicon. Out of all suitors her carrier had had, she definitely favored this one.

* * *

Much like SW to rock his coded messages; pun intended. :P  
Why do I feel that Laserbeak always gets more out of Soundwave's relationships than Soundwave himself?  
As you may all already know, feedback is welcome and appreciated, otherwise I feel like I am shouting into an abyss. :)

Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

Interactions of a more physical kind Finally!  
This chapter is so long because when these guys decide to take things slow they think they have all the time in the universe. This mostly consists of Soundwave and Steve easing into their new arrangement because there is plenty to ease into.

Also, I guess for those more squeamish. Remember in TFP Ratchet said that Soundwave was an unusual cybertronian inside and out? I adopted that statement and took it for a ride. Though this is only a glimpse of what is yet to come.

* * *

Chapter Text

Steve stood on the landing deck of Nemesis situated on top of the flat hull of the ship, regretting the choice of their meeting spot. The icy winds characteristic to the altitudes at which Nemesis cruised clipped painfully around his armor and his fuel lines were on the verge of freezing up but he waited regardless; Soundwave was never late, there must have been a hold-up. Steve's wisor brightened when he saw the angular chassis he had grown to like so well appear on the deck.

He wanted to step forward in acknowledgement only to notice that the lubricant in his joints had become too thick to maneuver easily, not that it dissuaded his attempts. Soundwave was much quicker on his feet, his frame being accustomed to the cold and not having spent as long in the freezing air. Just in a few strides he was before Steve, towering above him.

-"I…"Steve started but stopped abruptly when his vocalizer sputtered and only produced static - too cold, he was too cold. His excitement at finally concluding their courtship had left him completely oblivious to the state of his frame, which was starting to seize up. Soundwave tapped the side of his helm in signal for Steve to check his HUD alarms. Steve tried moving his arm and was left wanting; that was enough for spymaster to conclude that the eradicon was going to offline if they remained outside.

Before all else Soundwave moved in, placing his arms around the freezing chassis. His bright biolights pulsed dumping heat in the ambience around them. He had done so for his symbionts and still did for Laserbeak whenever she was in need of attention and reassurance.

Steve noticed the bright green flash of ground bridge and his first coherent thought was - Soundwave was warm and that they were leaving the deck. Steve reset his optic band to glance around the place where they had ended up. A couple of energon treats from his last gift caught his attention. They were located on a tall shelf next to a roost, these must have been Soundwave's quarters but Steve did not have much energy to focus on anything else really. Soundwave's biolights were doing a far too good job of distracting him. The heat did wonders to his jammed joints and only moments later he felt them melting loose and his shape strutlessly collapsed on something soft...ah, a berth.

Soundwave was not done though as he leant over the eradicon and carefully inspected him for any frost damage.

 _"...Apologies for delay...unit Steve functional?..."_

-"Uh, yes, just a bit dizzy from temperature fluctuations." Not to speak of sudden proximity Steve stared dazedly at the shiny black visor which reflected his own faceplate.

Soundwave retreated to let the eradicon sit up and offered him a cube of warmed energon.

-"Thank you." Steve raised the cube to his faceplates and then hesitated, making a little noise of embarrassment. He was not used to taking energon before his superiors and the manner in which eradicons ingested it made him self-conscious. After a moment of uncomfortable silence Soundwave politely turned to busy himself with rearranging Laserbeak's perch to let Steve fuel more comfortably. There was no point of embarrassing the eradicon this early on, they could work on his fuelling quirks later.

A small panel opened on the bottom of Steve's faceplate and a thin, proboscis-like tube descended into the cube. His faceplate was so hot from embarrassment he thought it would melt and that was not from his fuel line arrangement alone, all the possible implications of being in Soundwave's quarters also persistently pestered his processor but he forced them to stop.

-"Thank you." Steve repeated to indicate that he was done and fumbled with the empty cube suddenly uncertain where to put it. Soundwave tuned his attention back to his guest and the eradicon promptly decided that the safest place for the cube probably was on the floor.

Soundwave studied him for a moment, remaining motionless. Steve sat a bit in the silence he did not know how to fill. He was certain that idle chatter would not do so instead he decided to turn the conversation to…. His train of thought derailed completely when one of the data cables unfurled from Soundwave's chest. Steve fought hard to suppress a cringe, failed, apologised and then decided not to squirm anymore.

Soundwave scrutinised the eradicon, then glanced back to his data cable, his vocaliser clicked.

 _-"...communication easier..."_

The eradicon before him relaxed slightly in a manner which implied surrender rather than agreement and slightly inclined his helm for easier access.

Wary of this Soundwave carefully clasped Steve's cranial dock with his cable and the connectors gently eased into the eradicon's port. Steve gave a full-bodied shiver, hands balling into fists and releasing. He could feel Soundwave inside him, it should have hurt, he heard, it should have felt intrusive and unsettling but Soundwave tread lightly. His presence kept as inoffensive as a caress, a brush against Steve's consciousness.

Then it delved deeper, Steve felt himself gasp when Soundwave penetrated the superficial levels of consciousness and plunged into space designated to memory banks. Steve should have felt violated but again, Soundwave remained a mere spectator rather than an invasive force. He looked at what was offered to him, coaxing the nervous eradicon to open up more for him, to invite him in, offering steady input from himself in exchange.

At certain moment Steve observed that from a helpless receiver of this mental intrusion he had become a willing participant, pulling Soundwave in, inviting him in every nook of his processor if only to prolong the pleasant sensation of data flowing between them.

Sensing that the eradicon was more at ease now Soundwave mildly directed his attention to communication rather than feeling.

Steve was not sure if he should talk or try to think what he wanted to say instead but a sudden hunch, which he identified as not his own, told him he could do either.

-"Will you erase my memories of this?"

 _No._

The eradicon shifted when Soundwave knelt in front of him, carefully and slightly out of reach, not to agitate the jumpy eradicon. Sure, there was desire but there was also a strong amount of fear which was going to complicate things; better get those out of the way first.

 _Are you scared?_ Nobody could accuse Soundwave of meandering.

 _...Yes_

 _I will not hurt you if you don't want me to._

Soundwave enjoyed observing Steve's trains of processing running in parallel, providing possible implications of what he had just said. If he just tweaked a little...he stopped himself, it was still too early for this and Steve was again focused enough to answer his next question.

 _Do you desire me?_

-"Yes." Steve spoke out loud this time, not being aware of it. There, that was said; Steve's systems made a little hiccup when both memories and imaginary scenes helpfully floated to the surface of his processor. Steve fussing over treats for Laserbeak, watching Soundwave fly with Laserbeak, him feeling compassion for Soundwave' s loss...there were more insinuating thoughts though, hands gliding over midnight blue armor, tracing purple biolights, tremors...no, tremors were coming from the eradicon's chassis. He was panicking for harboring such strong desire for his superior.

Soundwave carefully withdrew, _Steve_ , Soundwave hoped that evoking his name would pull him out of his stupor y _ou need not fear me_. The spymaster waited for the new information to sink in before he approached the stiff mech in front of him.

-"I...would you mind removing your cable from my head?" Steve finally blurted out, clearly taking a hint of not needing to fear Soundwave's reaction.

 _Why?_

-"I feel less like myself that way."

Soundwave paused and Steve half-expected the spymaster to ignore his request but instead he felt the calipers of the data cable unlatch. Soundwave retrieved the delicate connectors deliberately slowly from where they had been attached in the eradicon's port. Steve shivered and drew a breathy vent from the sensation.

-"Y-you did that on purpose didn't you?"

Soundwave inclined his helm in agreement.

 _Slagger_ Steve thought and marveled at the sudden feeling of emptiness in his processor, he was finally alone but also... alone , it almost felt as if something was missing. It was the closeness, he figured, hence.. -"May I touch you?" He blurted.

Soundwave did not respond, at least not verbally. Instead, he moved closer to the eradicon to be within reach and waited. Steve stroked experimentally over Soundwave's shoulder panel, almost expecting it to bite him. Curiously he noticed that the biolights lodged there shone brighter when he passed his digits over them. So he followed the shining pattern until his claws reached the narrow shoulder joint. Soundwave shivered, was he ticklish or was it discomfort? If anything the spymaster did not retreat so Steve assumed he did well. His claw traced the narrow edge of Soundwave's arm, trailing down towards the slight elbow joint.

Steve was well and truly mesmerised when he felt a hand clasp the wrist of the arm which was not currently engaged in exploring Soundwave's chassis - a pleasantly non-threatening gesture, Steve concluded.

He allowed the motion when his wrist was guided to Soundwave's visor… ok, still safe. His breaths did hitch when something long, oily and black slithered from under that visor and slid over his exposed wrist joint. Apparently vehicons were not the only ones with odd oral arrangements.

That did not mean that Steve would not stiffen, the claws of his captured wrist curled inwards but he forced his plating to flare out and his claws to relax. Soundwave paused and lifted his visor to look at Steve waiting for a protest. When none came and he took time to lavish attention on exposed circuitry. Tiny currents danced over the surface of Steve's wiring and his vents opened a fraction wider to dissipate the building warmth. He definitely could get used to this, Steve decided, just before Soundwave stopped abruptly.

Steve exhaled a little sound of disappointment and looked at Soundwave, not being able to stop staring as the black appendage pulled back underneath that visor.

-"I, that was unusual, but I liked it." Steve tried lacing his voice with hope of getting more of the same treatment but Soundwave had other plans.

 _"...apologies, emergency on the main bridge…"_

* * *

For your information Steve hates me too.  
I hope it was not too weird, I am out of my comfort zone when it comes to writing such sort of smooshiness.

Thank you for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

Whoa! Can't believe this got to chapter 12 and counting!  
Thank you for following this through guys!

On a side note - I do try to follow the main points of the TFP continuity, not always in the correct order, BUT I thought that Soundwave needing to erase his databanks would definitely affect his current relationship. Restoring part if not all of that info must have been a pain.

* * *

-"Ser?" Steve had seen Serengeti being told off by Srarscream earlier that day. He had covered in his tiny corner of the lab to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Whatever the reason was, it was had not been pretty. There were tensions going on on the Nemesis, Soundwave and Laserbeak had been absent on an off-ship mission, the absence of his balancing influence was sorely felt, Dreadwing was gone, too. Things looked unstable and eradicons appreciated each-other's company now more than ever, even the vehicons were being more friendly due to their dwindling numbers.

Lucy entered their quarters carrying a box of touch-up materials for Serengeti but otherwise remaining his recently-established silent self.

-"It's ok, Steve. Chill." Serengeti replied whilst starting to fill out the superficial scratches. Starscream was never the one to go for heavy blows, he preferred the more shame-inducing marks on the finish.

-"By the way where is Vik?" Serengeti tried directing their conversation somewhere else.

-"Vik is getting a frame upgrade." Lucy spoke, unhappily at that. He was not fond of making Viktor more of a target than he already was. Affection did not come easy to Lucy as it was and he feared losing someone dear to him.

-"Well, at least now his frame will be more resilient." Steve tried looking at the bright side. He was getting worried about his favorite TIC as well. Soundwave usually did not stay out on missions this long unless something had gone wrong.

-"Yeah…" Serengeti drawled sounding unconvinced, he shared Lucy's opinion but figured that reinforcing it would only make Lucy more unhappy. -"How about you elaborate on your encounter, the old spiky did not do anything you did not like did he?"

-"No, he did not. Just... he is intense, for the lack of a better word." Steve's faceplate heated up slightly. His frame had been warm since his meeting with the Spymaster and he desperately wanted to continue their tryst, preferably where they had left off and most preferably, that very moment…

-"Like what? Did he hogtie you up upside-down or something?"

-"Don't be crass, Ser. Furthermore we did not get that far."

-"I can't believe he passed up on scrambling your processor though."

-"We talked, ok?

-"So you got blueballed, as the earthlings call it." Serengeti noted while dabbing a sealant on his scratched up chassis.

-"What does that even mean?" Steve was getting annoyed despite himself. - " Look just because you get yelled at does not mean you have to dump Your frustration on some bot else."

They were quiet for a moment, none of them had been so close to having a heated argument before. The suspense and the growing threat of offlining every day was making them edgy. Serengeti put down the tools and vented, this would not do.

-"Sorry Steve, you are right."

-"Apology accepted and, I do regret it turned out like that with Starscream. Here, let me help you with that buffing kit."

The tension on the ship was palpable, Ironically what cooled Steve off were his shifts on the deck of the Nemesis. No matter how hot his systems ran, they stood no chance against the bitter, cold winds. He was almost reluctant to return when his systems pinged him that his frame temperature had reached dangerously low levels.

After his customary visit to thaw in the wash racks he almost ran into Laserbeak which was new since the little avian usually preferred hovering overhead. She must have been waiting for something.

-"Hey there! How did the mission go?"

He did not know how he had expected her to answer but just moments later Soundwave walked past him quietly.

-" Soundwave sir! Welcome back!" Steve chirped enthusiastically. The TIC paid as much attention to him as he would to an empty spot.

Steve fought to hide his disappointment, he did not expect to be treated differently to other eradicons or to receive public displays of affection but Soundwave usually acknowledged their greetings in some way.

This time, nothing.

Without missing a beat Soundwave rounded the corner, Steve repressed an urge to follow the TIC, Laserbeak chittered apologetically and darted after her carrier. Something was wrong and now he really needed to speak with Laserbeak.

She alit on his shoulder in middle of one of his maintenance shifts on the main hull. The insecticons had done a number on the communication systems and he had his servos full for the last 10 days or so.

-"Hello, another request for treats?" Steve asked fondly, as of late Laserbeak had become a sort of connection to Soundwave and the eradicon welcomed her arrival.

The little avian twitched her wings and forwarded him a data packet instead, insisting that he read it then and there. That was unusual but eventually Steve was grateful for her relaying that Soundwave had been on the prolonged mission which had required him to erase his databanks. In short, he did not know who he was, even less so - who Steve was and what they had shared.

Steve's spark almost shattered, he felt like he had been kicked in the fuel tank. Steve almost lost his grip on the antenna and slipped, dislodging Laserbeak from his shoulder. He apologised and waited for Laserbeak to convey anything else but she chirred apologetically and disappeared in a cluster of clouds.

His teammates found him keening in the eradicon quarters. For once nobody teased him.

\- " I am sure he made backups." Viktor then stated. "It is stated in regulations for missions such as this."

Steve looked up at him hopefully. -"How do you know that?"

Viktor shrugged -"Frame upgrade is not the only thing I had to do to be a team leader, you know."

-"So he might remember me?"

-"Only time will tell. If anything, the files of utmost importance have to be restored first and I suspect that tactical data will be on the top of his list. Personal data is usually treated as the last on the list. So you will just have to be patient, wait and see." That was if Soundwave had made any backups for his personal exploits.

It was not a given but it gave Steve hope, he brightened up a bit and decided that if the worst came to pass and Soundwave would not remember him, wooing Soundwave would not seem like such an impossible feat anymore. The Spymaster had chosen to accept him the first time around, he might do it again.

Seeing Soundwave so unresponsive and detached did not make things easier on day-to day functions though. Even for a mech who showcased so little in manner of body language he looked empty somehow. So Steve armed himself with patience and gave it time though every now and then he would leave a little offering for Soundwave to find on his work console in hopes that one day he would remember.

* * *

Steve still has legit. reasons to hate me.


	13. Chapter 13 - call the exorcist

I will have you know that I tend to write intercourse which leans heavily towards convoluted and bizarre. Not kinky bizarre, mind, just the regular kind. Which is probably why I rarely publish that content, I´m self-conscious about my smut, oh heavens.

This chapter should go up to levels of T,

So if it is not your cup of tea

You are welcome to stop reading this somewhere in between

and return for the next, much safer chappie with plot to see.

(haha, rhymes) I have no clue what I am doing

* * *

Steve kept himself busy - repairs, coding lessons, confection-making, he was getting particularly good at that. On one occasion he had even managed pulling puffs of thin cotton-energon without it spontaneously combusting. That had been a fun day.

Today though, was one of the days he spent in preparation: put bits of congealed energon to cure, reduced the mid-grade to high - grade with spicy additives. He was last to leave the lab that day so he switched off the lights, it was time for rest and recharge.

Apart from the vehicons on guard duty the corridors were empty. He did get startled when Laserbeak plopped on his helm in manner of a lopsided bow. She chirred and wriggled her tiny sensors around his helm in excitement.

-"What's going on?"

Laserbeak darted into the air again and Steve excused this as her antics but the avian continued, twittering, darting back and forth in the air.

-"Oh, you want me to follow you?"

Steve obliged, he passed through the darkened corridors, slowly starting to realise where he was being lead. He had never taken the path to Soundwave's quarters before, rumors had it he did not even have quarters but Steve knew otherwise. Thing is, nobody had actually seen where the secretive TIC retired for recharge, now Laserbeak lead him there without slightest hesitation.

Laserbeak stopped in front of an unassuming wall panel and skittered over a electricity communication box mounted on the said support pillar. Hydraulics hummed to life, the panel moved slightly inwards and then sideways to reveal a dark interior. The little avian guide flitted inside without moment's hesitation but Steve remained on doorstep.

-"Are you sure?" He had to override his escape protocols (Since when did he have those?) when a familiar data cable emerged from darkness. Curiously he observed the nimble appendage clasp his wrist to give a careful pull towards the darkness. Steve followed, twisting his palm to exert a gentle caress on the pliable surface of the appendage.

Once over the threshold the panel shut behind him engulfing the chamber in darkness.

Steve rested his optic band to adjust to new light conditions when he noticed that the ambience was not purely dark, it was illuminated with rows of low-glowing purple biolights, not unlike Soundwave's own but then again, entire Nemesis had similar biolights. Steve tried following them in attempt to distinguish what they were a part of. Surely all of the biolights present could not belong to Soundwave but the cryptic lines on the room's interior made it impossible to distinguish where the ship ended and where Soundwave began.

Steve felt a wall of warmth behind him -"Soundwave? Ah!"

He shivered when a familiar pull on his wrist exposed the hidden circuitry and something slithered smoothly over the cables. It seemed Soundwave was intent on picking up where they last left off… which meant..

-"You remember?"

A soft rasping purr sounded next to his audial, the warm vent tickling his receptors, Steve considered that he should have been panicking probably. Yep, that visor was definitely off.

-"I, I, missed you too?" Oh, he'd missed the interaction alright but he really hoped they would talk about what happened first and jump chassis later, it seemed Soundwave was inclined otherwise.

-"I heard what happened, are you alright now?" He felt digits tracing enigmatic patterns against his armor. At some point Steve had come across a datapad describing various forms of tactile interaction. Was it that, or was Soundwave just satisfying his need to touch? Steve stored that thought away to dwell on it later as Soundwave's digits raked against more sensitive transformation seams; careful and persistent.

"...alright now…" Finally came the playback of his own voice, at least Soundwave was back to his old habits.

-"Could I perhaps see you? I do not mind the advances but it is a bit sudden." Steve detected motion, a static pattern of biolights moved as if a piece of a patten had been lifted from a canvas. A pair of striking violet optics came into view. -"Oh…" That was not exactly what Steve had meant but somehow it was also more than he had expected.

-"May I touch you?" The optics blinked once and the Steve cautiously extended his hand towards the two glowing slits. His digits connected with the angular crown-shaped tips of Soundwave's helm but the metal below it was a mystery; Steve hesitated before trailing the backside of his claws over the softer metal plates of Soundwave's face. His optics narrowed in response to the contact but not dangerously so.

Steve gasped when something suddenly tickled his cranial port, then, the port on his chest and kept on skimming over other access points in his chassis as if deciding which one to latch on to. However there was no connection being established with any of them, merely teasing touches and exploration.

Something coiled around Steve's waist, pulling on him. He wriggled slightly, noting that his body was being manipulated, by then one of his feet had completely left the floor. It was difficult to follow which end was up or down anymore because of the conflicting feedback from his gyros and optic. Steve knew he was somewhat upright, but which body parts supported and enveloped him, he was not certain and he certainly was not standing on his own feet anymore.

The movement did stop and Soundwave paused, letting Steve adjust.

"...proceed?..."

Steve assessed his current state, he waas not uncomfortable, not really, he was not in pain and the warmth and support leached away any feelings of claustrophobia he might have been starting to develop.

Steve gathered his thoughts realising that Soundwave still waited for his reply. -"H-how would you like to do it?" He got his response when one of the limbs he was currently tangled in exerted a slight pressure against his interface panel.

-"I, I think I might need to warm up a bit more for that." Steve shivered, cringing slightly at his own response. He was not sure why he feader retaliation, so far Soundwave had proven to be considerate so there was no point of rushing.

The violet optics extinguished suddenly and the biolights dimmed to the lowest output, Soundwave wanted as few distractions as possible.

Steve felt warm vents trailing down his middle. Until he felt a kiss on his inner thigh seam, the gesture was almost reverent. His leg was gently guided sideways and soft ministrations were lavished on the sensitive plating, punctured by that.. Steve decided to call it 'glossa' for all the functional purposes. He convulsed when the flexible appendage delved deep into his hip joint. Soundwave was serious about warming him up, by the time he was done with one hip joint Steve could testify beyond any doubt that he was ready but Soundwave took his time with the other thigh for good measure until the eradicon beneath him trembled, small currents of electricity dancing along his heated plating. By then Steve craved more sensory input.

-"I think I am ready."

Steve opened his interface panel but surprisingly that was not where the connection happened next. He should have known, calipers clasped his cranial port and he gasped as the data tendrils pushed in. Steve arched his entire torso, how Soundwave managed making that feel pleasant remained a mystery. Those purple optics were back now, shining brightly and dilated to the point where Steve could make out black circular irises. Through the haze of the arousal he noticed biolight patterns which he associated with Soundwave's torso come into view, moving easily between his parted thighs.

 _-"Do you have a preference?"_

 _-"I, no, I always imagined I would be on top though."_

 _-"Do you have objections to how you are now?"_

Steve swore that if Soundwave remained static he would self-ignite _-"Be gentle?"_

As a means of answer Soundwave leant to Steve's neck cables and lapped at the surface already crackling with small charges, making the eradicon fluff out his vents and arch.

 _-"Please?"_ Steve wriggled slightly, and then something entered him. Soundwave kept it painstakingly slow aiming to reduce any unnecessary discomfort for his partner.

 _-"That ...better not be the data cable ."_ Steve caught himself thinking while he adjusted to the unfamiliar fullness.

- _"It is not."_ Soundwave pushed his hips closer, studying Steve's reactions. His optic band glowed dark red amongst the sea of purple biolights, body trembling slightly, vents parting softly in sync with their movements, legs tense where they curled around Soundwave's slender hips. There was no pain, but there was confusion and too much analysis for what the moment required.

 _-"Relax."_ Soundwave adjusted the angle of penetration and was rewarded by a tremulous mewl, there, that scrambled those thought processes. Assured of Steve´s comfort, he uncoiled his other cable and carefully slid it in the eradicon´s chest port, the reaction he got was delectable and clearly resonated through their link. With necessary preparations in place they could start in earnest.

For his part Steve was fairly certain that this was not the outcome he had anticipated but if it was a loss on his part, he would not be upset about it. Soundwave left no space for anything but pleasure, swamping Steve´s processor to the level of overloading; winding down sensation in his valve to minimum (much to Steve´s chargin´), to return it back full force with an unexpected data burst, if processor-scrambling interfacing existed it literally had to be it.

By the time they were done Steve was sure he should check the status of his vocalizer with Lucy, what he was unsure of was: his ability to walk and how much time had passed.

* * *

Congratulations, dear readers, you survived my take on... whatever that was, I'm sure Laserbeak enjoyed the show. Kudos for sticking around and no, this is not the end yet. Though mark my words, The End is Nigh! *Shakes cardboard poster*

Additional snark - just too many for this chapter, had to edit some out:  
Laserbeak, cover your eyes, child!  
Soundwave prefers walking around his home naked, wear some pants, Goddamit!  
Soundwave interfacing - look, no hands!

*Please note that the amount of exclamation marks in the last 3 lines is directly proportional to my levels of embarrassment.


	14. Chapter 14

Hello folks! Firstly - I am glad to see that you people actually have been following up on the updates of this ambitious plot bunny even after 13 chapters! It warms the hole in my chest where the heart should have been, it really does.  
Here we get a backstory of eradicon self-awareness, also I hoped to flesh out where this chapter belonged in the Prime timeline And to show progress Sounders and Steve had made thus far :3.

* * *

Soundwave cast a sweeping glance over the dark deck of Nemesis. A couple more mecha had ventured out to take a look, surprisingly - all of them were of one or other type of eradicon. Huddled in groups of 2 or 3 with optic bands set to the lowest output not to interfere with the spectacle, they waited for it to start. Soundwave felt as if he had been invited to a secret gathering, granted that most mechanisms gave him a wide berth, the gesture was flattering. It was moments like these when he dared to hope that the War just might be at it's end.

Shockwave and the Ratchet had perfected the synth-en formula, a lucky accident indicated that it might be possible to live like a cybertronian again even if it was another planet they would have to modify.

He might have felt regret about the resulting termination of the human species if not for witnessing how ruthless they could be both amongst themselves and the mecha, pit, even against their environment which exclusively could sustain them. Much like scraplets, they were rather harmless individually however contrary to their size they were not defenseless and they were not friendly. The parallels between Cybertron and Erath were unnerving in this aspect. Regardless, given choice he would put any cybertronian, even an Autobot before humans on any day.

What also mattered was that Laserbeak was happy and online and…he glanced downwards discretely not to disturb the expectant eradicon who covered close to Soundwave's warmer frame...Steve, his personal project.

Eradicons had been designed with coding which easily lent itself to manipulation if one had the right access. For the sake of convenience their programing was pretty standard throughout the series and builds although older models had more proclivity to triggered deviation.

Had Soundwave so desired, he could have reprogrammed Steve to a function a of an energon dispenser. Not that he would ever do it but the option was there. It differed from triggered deviation though; in sense that the latter was not controlled and produced unexpected outcomes.

Unwittingly it had been Soundwave himself who had initiated the first change during one of his memory modification sessions for the eradicons. The older the eradicon was, the more likely it's coding was to be triggered. They were small, benign deviations in code which had not been worth the trouble to remove, especially considering average vehicon functionality span. What he had not anticipated was the cascading effect they caused resulting in an eradicon with a more evolved personality.

A personality he enjoyed, but also a liability. Whilst Soundwave was hesitant to permit himself to create attachments he could not deny having gone slightly out of his way when it came to this particular eradicon. While the spymaster had no illusions of being able to protect Steve from harm, he had provided him with an option to not engage by subtly introducing workarounds to Steve's standard programming. Steve now had an option to override certain hardwired responses if need arose, such as - choose not to fight even when Megatron was still functional.

Soundwave switched his attention to his surroundings once more, this moment was important even if it had lead to an undesired side-effect of Laserbeak leaving bits of dismantled weather drones across the floor of their shared quarters. With help of Laserbeak Steve had been for tapping into human metrological feeds as Nemesis had set course towards one of the Earth's poles. According to the forecasts, they were in for an intense display.

He devoted 75% of his processing capabilities to ensuring safety for their mission and surveillance on Nemesis. The remaining processing capacity was directed at Steve and Laserbeak, who had flitted off to flirt with the turbulent Jet stream they had been passing. Soudwave trusted the rest of the officers to manage themselves for time being.

Carefully he dragged his digits over Steve's cranial port, asking for a permission. The eradicon wordlessly inclined his helm and vented softly as they connected.

Following that reaction Soundwave pinged Laserbeak to warn her ahead of time that their quarters might get busy at the end of the work cycle. He did not wish to trap her with them and then endure her bored observations or worse yet - her getting inventive, Laserbeak's comments during his last session with Steve had been distracting to say the least.

A raw burst of data from Steve drew his attention - it had started. First it looked like an iridescent, glowing cloud much too high in stratosphere. It unraveled into ribbons of green and purple, stretching through the sky, undulating in the non-existent wind and then spearing downwards like myriads of thin crystalline needles.

The deck was silent, nobody spoke, being equally mesmerised by the sight. Soundwave took a careful step closer to Steve, gently igniting the biolights in his arm pannels to heat the air around the eradicon. Through their connection Soundwave shared the feedback of his enhanced sensors. For Steve the experience was reminiscent of seeing the world in higher definition.

Steve gasped softly when Soundwave pushed a bit more than just sensory feedback his way. He glanced up at the opaque visor, behind Soundwave the charged ions still danced across the sky, casting eerie green glow across his plating and making Steve's sensornet buzz pleasantly from elevated levels of charged particles.

Steve caressed the smooth data cable and huddled closer to the pleasant warmth, he wished this, whatever it was, would last.

* * *

I tried keeping it slightly... fluffy, I guess. I am also a sucker for northern lights.

Time for end snerk, because I bet this is all you read this story for:

With regards to humans, Soundwave's not a hypocrite at all, not even a bit :D

Laserbeak - the main reason why your weather service did not provide accurate news sinde 1984.

Soundwave - Cybertronian version of 3D glasses and thermostat! It's a 2 in 1 deal!

Steve is a prime example of cybertronian evolution, he used to be a toaster when he started out.

Thank you for reading!


	15. Chapter 15

Welcome to chapter 15 - this story is drawing closer to the end of the Prime series and its logical (Inevitable HA, HA!) conclusion. There is one additional chapter to go before we are done with this arch.  
So that I can continue working on the subsequent ones.

* * *

The sirens of Nemesis were blaring, something had gone wrong. They all had to report to their stations. Steve nearly fell out of his berth, he had been off-duty at that moment but by the looks of it Nemesis's cloaking systems were down, again. Bad timing, too.

Steve was still a bit groggy when he headed for the external deck, impacts against external hull made the floor shudder under his feet. That was not good but it was his responsibility to check for damages on the hull so he went. He did not get far though because out of nowhere Soundwave backed him up against the side of the corridor. Their vents intermingled, it was rushed, avaricious, laced with sense of unease and also incredibly inappropriate for the moment - it was wonderful.

Steve reeled and that was enough distraction for Soundwave to push him into the supply closet which, Steve noted, was the surface against which he had been pressed. For a moment Steve thought they were about to do something young mechs did when their interface coding kicked in but was in for a shock when the door slammed and locked on him.

-"Soundwave?!" It took a moment for Steve to fully comprehend what had happened. He scratched the door desperately, he could see the TIC retreating through the slatted portion of the door. -"Soundwave, let me out! Please!"

Nothing.

Next he heard shots being fired and saw a squadron of vehicons charging down the hall. There was a battle of some sort just beyond the edge of what Steve could see, lots of shots fired and crunchy noises. Steve cringed, crunchy noises were never good when eradicons were involved.

Then he abruptly fell silent when he saw the heavy green Autobot charge down the hall in the opposite direction. Steve quickly recoiled to the back of the closet and waited, he was not foolish enough to try blasting the door open at this proximity. Sounds of shots retreated into distance, as the battle moved elsewhere on the Nemesis.

A feeling of dread settled in his tank. Soundwave would be ok, he had to, he was Soundwave after all. Steve settled on the storage floor and waited, nothing more happened on his end until he got an odd 'comm which he identified as two spark signatures. After that there was nothing but silence.

Steve waited, anxious and slightly irritated; he was a soldier too, damn it! The news came in a manner of a click. The lock on his impromptu prison came undone by itself which meant that Soundwave was either not on the ship or not in charge of it anymore, or… Steve pushed the thought aside and rushed towards the command bridge.

The halls were silent once more, greying bodies of downed vehicons could be seen here and there, slumped against the walls, sprawled on the floor. A tank-former caught his attention, part of his back armor had been lodged in the wall behind him from the impact which had - no dout - crushed his spark chamber; but the body could not slump to the floor. This awkward standing position with knee-joints half-bent made it look as if he was still online, hand clutched over a dent in middle of his chest, thin streams of energon dripping from the crushed plating. Steve gasped when he recognized Viktor and his spark made a painful lurch. He stopped, clutching his chest, venting furiously and staggered closer to him.

-" Oh Vik…" Steve placed a gentle hand on the lifeless shoulder, it was wrong, him standing like this, it was a grotesque parody of being online. With great care he lowered Viktor's body to the floor -"We did want to see Cybertron one day didn't we?" Steve let out a tremulous laugh, he wanted to say something more but he was not allowed this moment of grieving.

-"Hands up! Don't make me shoot you." Steve stiffened, standing up slowly and doing just that. He recognized that voice - the little blue two wheeler which hardly reached the top edge of his chestplate. He had to repress his ingrained coding from dropping into an attack stance but it felt much easier to ignore since he started seeing Soundwave. There was probably more to those data cable interfaces than just data exchange.

-"Are we not allowed to mourn our departed?"

The two wheeler stuttered, clearly not having expected an answer like this from an eradicon. -"You are but not while we are in middle of the battle. Now move!"

Steve was lead into what he assumed was a holding room. The surviving eradicons of all classes were currently kept there. Just moments later he almost got knocked down by Lucy.

-" Steve, I thought they got you!" He gave Steve a once-over to verify if he was in any immediate need of medical attention.

-" Well, in a manner they did."

-" Hey there, loverwings." Steve recognized that speech pattern, Serengeti limped his way, carrying part of his missing foot in his hand. "You look like you just came out of repairs."

-"I, yeah, Soundwave locked me into a storage cabinet before all Pit broke loose. Who else is here? What happened? I kind of missed everything."

-"Well…" Serengeti and Lucy exchanged looks. -"You are not going to like this."

Steve cast a glance over the room, it was only the eradicons and, surprisingly, Knock Out, no other officers.

-"Megatron got a sword through his chamber, Starscream and Shockwave escaped…" Lucy hesitated.

-"What about.."

-"We do not know." Both eradicons stated with regret in their vocalizers. "He went missing together with all the communications in the beginning of the battle which is probably why we lost."

Steve pondered this, so chances were that Soundwave was either offline or escaped… It was unlike Soundwave to run from battle, even less so at the very beginning of the fight which meant he was either offline or incapacitated...

-"Do you know anything about Vik?"

Steve stopped his musings and paused, torn between lying for Lucy's sake and telling the bitter truth.

-"Lucy… I, I saw Vik before they got me, I'm sorry Lucy." Steve muttered, looking at the floor.

-"No, no, tell me the entire thing." Lucy gave him a little shake, his voice trembled, he deserved to know, he Had to know.

-"Vik is offlined."

It might have been a kill switch, just like that Lucy collapsed strutlessly and now Steve had to be the one holding him. Serengeti joined them, embracing Lucy from behind and also seeking comfort himself, Vik had been their team leader, a friend and a decent spark throughout.

-"How?" Lucy's voice sounded hollow, distant.

-"His spark chamber was crushed."

-"The green one." Lucy hissed, referring to the large Autobot wrecker who was more than likely responsible for offlining their teammate. Serengeti huddled closer to Lucy and they stayed like this, sparks attempting to synchronize.

More eradicons started gravitating either towards them or making small clusters of comfort and support of their own. Their engines tuned in on one another, producing a low, steady pitch, one might have thought that they were humming.

* * *

I have no snark for this chapter, could not muster up any. Though it was interesting to write from eradicon perspective.

Speaking of hallway storage closets and since I have mentioned them in the fick more than once but you do not necessarily see them in series (I think?): Decepticons are into Scandinavian design. Sleek, functional and available - DecepIKEA!

Thank you for reading!


	16. Chapter 16

Hello people! I could not wait to post this - had all the chapters ready and done and - this is the finish line so forgive me for sprinting.

So welcome to the last installment of Flight of Fancy!

* * *

The fate of the vehicons at Autobot hands was not too bad. None of them had been offlined after the end of battle and most of them had been tended to either by Knock Out (who surprisingly maintained a high level of freedom for a war criminal) Ratchet or Lucy.

Speaking of whom, it had not gone that well for the medical assistant on a personal level.

Naturally Lucy wanted to see Viktor's body, which, apparently had been moved to storage with the remaining offlined vehicon bodies to be smelted.

Lucy had visibly crumpled at these news. Smokescreen who had been at the head of the cleanup duty did not know how to best approach the upset eradicon.

-"I, uh. Look, we will find him." He felt completely out of his character trying to soothe a mechanism he would have offlined on sight not weeks before. It had not helped matters when Bulkhead tried lending a servo.

-"What is wrong with them? I never imagined they would be so mopey." Smokescreen complained to Arcee when his shift was over.

-"It is called grieving, Smokescreen, and, we are not the best ones to help them out."

-"But then who is?"

Arcee sighed, she wished she had an answer to that question.

The solution to eradicon attitude came as a result of an unpleasant surprise. The numbers of mecha residing in the Autobot base had increased due to influx of eradicons but sadly their energon production had not followed suit. Their energon consumption was not sustainable for the number of mechs they had to keep online. The only solution was reducing the number of mechanisms and offlining clearly was not an option. The only viable choice was stasis lock and they had a suspicion That would not improve their relationship with the already testy eradicons.

Steve and Serengeti exchanged glances when they and the rest of the decepticon foot soldiers had been summoned to the storage area of the Nemesis. Lucy cast hateful glances about himself, his processor was a swirling turmoil of rage, hate and loss.

-"What do they plan to do?" Steve asked Serengeti with a fluttering sense of unease in his spark.

-"Mass executions are not Autobot style but who the pit knows."

Steve cast him a lingering stare and caught Lucy's wrist not to lose him in the crowd. If anything they at least would be together.

They entered the vast area where countless stasis pods lay empty in waiting. Serengeti staggered while Lucy did not seem to be aware of his surroundings. Steve felt something clutching at his spark. Did they really think…

-"Y-you cannot do this to us!" Steve shouted out to the Autobots who lingered on the upper decks of the storage area, slightly out of sight. That caught the attention of everyone in the room, the air was tense in anticipation of an answer.

-"I assure you this is only a temporary solution." The voice of Ultra Magnus rang through the room amplified by the speakers. "A solution we are taking out of dire necessity."

-"Well nobody asked our opinion on this!" They heard another voice, a vehicon, how curious, a murmur of approval followed this statement.

-"You cannot just put us in stasis lock like some crazy insecticons! We did not sign up for this war, we are a direct product of it. Of Decepticon but also of Your war!" Serengeti joined the protesting eradicons and the volume of murmurs increased.

-"We did not get to choose the side like you did so you cannot just sweep us under the carpet like some sort of uncomfortable reality." Steve called out and something snapped. A chorus of anxious eradicon voices carried away the remains of what he had said, but that was ok. Shouts both angry, frustrated and scared filled the air.

-"We are putting you into stasis lock because we do not have enough energon to feed you all. Once we have a steady supply, you have my word, you will be released." Ultra Magnus tried overpowering the roar of the voices downstairs but was fighting a losing battle. Suddenly something small collided with his knee with a _tink_. A patter of small, nondescript objects rained on him and other Autobots who remained on the decks. They may have disabled the eradicon weapons but had not accounted for eradicons to start throwing whatever they could find in storage towards the upper decks.

-"Like scrap you will!

-"You just cannot bear to shoot an unarmed drone!"

-"It is just easier to store us away in a cargo hold forever!"

Others tried climbing the support beams to get to the upper decks, for what, they did not know, but at the moment it had not mattered much. They were guided by psychology of a crowd - a scared and angry crowd.

-"You are no better than Dec...!"

The cries died down as if they had been turned off by a switch. Autobots were startled by the sudden silence which settled over the echos of the cacophony that had been filling the room just moments ago. The last thrown items clattered against the floor. As one, the eradicons had frozen in their spots in whichever position they had taken.

-"Ratchet? Did you just manually use the Nemesis' stasis ray?"

To his credit the medic looked as disgruntled as the rest of the team Prime. They had expected violence but not such single-minded resistance and definitely not this much insight.

-"There was no point of riling them up even more." Ratched stated although there was a tone of guilt underlining his voice.

-"But they will wake up hating us." Bumblebee interjected.

-"Do you think you would have convinced them otherwise now?"

Nobody had an answer to that and nobody had anything better to offer than the solution the medic had dropped in their laps.

Ratchet humphed. No matter how noble their motivations were, from perspective of the decepticon foot soldiers who had come to expect nothing short of offlining from the Autobots, the premise of being reactivated _Later_ did not sound all that promising. Regretfully they would not have gained anything from trying to talk the eradicons down now; damage control would have to be done once they onlined them again.

On the other side of reality Soundwave had no other choice but to stand and watch the entire exchange with clenched fists. His spark swelled from pride for the eradicon who had raised the voice, one who had thrown the first stone.

However, one by one they fell victim to the stasis ray, he experienced mild tingling as the wave passed through him. His plating rattled from the sub-sonic growl he had been unaware of emitting.

His internal sensors suddenly picked up on a patchy radio transmission from Earth, nothing of importance, just some human music...

…

Fundieron plomo y cobre

Pusieron sal en sobres

Alerta, hay un testigo

Nos han dejado vivos

Fue un atraco perfecto

Excepto por esto

Nos queda garganta, puño y pies

No fue un golpe maestro

Dejaron un rastro

Ya pueden correr

Ya vuelve la sed

...

The End

(This chapter was inspired by song "Golpe Maestro" by Vetusta Morla)

For those interested; the lyrics go something like this: They smelted lead and copper (bullets), they put salt in their letters. But there were witnesses, so they let us live. It was a perfect robbery, apart from this, they left us with mouths, fists and feet. It was not a perfect attack, it left a trail, now they can run, (our) the thirst is back.

* * *

I wish to thank everybody who cared to comment, mark this story as favorite and follow.

The timeline of this story continues in the fick "Ice Cream" though from an Autobot perspective, since Eradicons are out of picture for the moment.

I might add another story to this timeline with eradicon adventures on Cybertron.

But first I have to work on my thesis. Keep your fingers crossed for me.


	17. Chapter 17 - Epilogue

And an epilogue because I got inspired

* * *

-"Rise and shine!" Steve heard Knock Out's voice, felt a prick of a needle and registered his retreating footsteps.

The atmosphere around them felt somewhat different. There seemed to be no moisture in the air, for which his circuits thanked him but there was a large amount of dust. His vents wheezed as he sharply invented before releasing air from the ventilation systems in one sharp gust.

-"Watch where you're unclogging your filters!" Somebody next to him growled, Steve apologised. Then looked up to the source of injection - an energon drip?

-"Is this some sort of a joke?" Serengeti's drowsy voice rung somewhere in vicinity. So, there were more eradicons around and Serengeti was there too!

Steve reset his optic band and winced at the buildup of pressure in his processor. The place looked like a run-down warehouse of sorts. There were no berths, only mats on the floor on which he and a number of others lay - everyone had an energon drip...

-"You wish." The unnamed vehicon by his side groaned in response, sheltering his optic band from the harsh overhead lighting, and complaining about pain in the processor. Steve's own helm-ache was starting to catch up with him and he rubbed his cranial port.

-"Ser?"

-"Keep it down, especially You." Serengeti mumbled somewhere to the left, he was usually irritable right after recharge so Steve did not hold it against him.

Despite the helm-ache the eradicon was determined to get up. His vision blurred, gyros trying to re-calibrate. - "Just keep talking Ser! I'll find you!" The post-stasis dizziness announced itself moments later and he collapsed back on the mat, well, at least there was nowhere else to fall into. Hence stubbornly he started to crawl towards the sound of Serengeti's voice.

-"Steve! The Pit you are doing?!" Lucy yelled from across the room.

-"Crawling?"

-"~Quiet~" A feeble groan carried from the far corner of the room.

-"Get back to your berth...uh, mat, before I tie you to it." Lucy switched to an angry whisper. He had adopted a certain air of authority since they last saw him and behaved in a manner which indicated that he had been up for a while already.

-"I gather this is not the Allspark so where are we?" The helm-ache vehicon posed the question Steve had wanted to ask.

-"Cybertron." Lucy stated casually while he busied himself with taking vital data from eradicons who had not yet regained consciousness.

-"No way. Last I remember we were doing the angry mob thing back on Earth." Serengeti seemed to be slurring his words much less now.

-"Yes, well, at least the Autobots kept their word about not offlining us while we were in stasis." Lucy was uncharacteristically talkative which Steve took as a good sign.

-"It's nice to hear you Lucy."

-"Wait, Cybertron - the place we have been fighting for? The land of metallic rainbows and liquid energon?" The vehicon seemed to have processed the information but nobody was sure if he was being sarcastic or not.

-"I would not quite put it that way." Lucy muttered almost to himself. -"But you'll be the judge of that soon enough."

-"When can we leave this place?"

-"Whenever you can stand." Lucy threw over his shoulder as he ventured to readjust Steve's energon drip. "They are onlining us in batches. Wheeljack's busy gauging by how much they should increase the energon production before they release us from stasis."

By the time Steve was properly able to maneuver himself in space with energon drip in tow, the room was full with awake and groggy eradicons and Lucy hurried off to take care of them. Knock Out came in a couple more times to check on those who had a harder time emerging from the stasis but in general it was a sort of dizzy assembly of eradicons. Some were just sitting on their mats - regaining their bearings, some staggered and some managed maintaining more stable trajectories but all were confused.

Serengeti had issues with his injured leg so he gestured to Steve to come and join him when Lucy came by again.

-"I thought we had fixed it." Lucy whispered.

-"You had but I wanted a moment of your undivided attention." Lucy made a non-comitant sound but gave no indication of leaving.

-"How long have we been out and what's happening now?"

-"6 months and you will get a task assigned. So far we are just working for them." Steve motioned to them to keep quiet as one of the Autobots entered the room, it was a yellow and black one. He looked around a little unsure but then started talking.

-"Fellow cybertronians, please do not be alarmed. You are our fellow mechanisms and we ...uh."

The bot stuttered, apparently the speech was as jarring and unnatural to him as it was to everybody else in the room, Knock Out had cringed while listening. The Autobot cursed under his breath, cleared his intake and then started again.

-"Sorry about that, what I meant to say was was - Hi, I am Bumblebee and I hope stasis is wearing off fine, you are on Cybertron, this is not a prison and nobody will harm you as long as you do not harm us. Try not to wander off, if you have any issues tell me or any of the medics which have been tending you. Once you feel stable enough you will get an introduction about what has been happening."

Nobody spoke, but also nobody rioted or threw things at him, so that was definitely a step above how matters had gone down before. Knock Out showed a 'thumbs up' across the room and approached the yellow scout for a debriefing.

The eradicon trio observed.

-"Soo, they are all lovey-dovey?" Serengeti whispered tilting his helm towards the two grounders.

-"More like a pain for everyone else to look at - they have been tiptoeing around eachother for as long as I am online." Lucy muttered

-"And how long is that?" Steve butted in.

-"4 months, I have been training under Ratchet and Knock Out, medics, apparently are very valuable." Lucy his attention to Bumblebee who had called him and quickly whispered to the other two -"Whenever you feel stable we can sneak out." Then he was off again, to have a talk with Knock Out and the yellow Autobot.

They ventured out later that day while it was still light outside, Steve and Serengeti supporting eachother while Lucy lead the way. Nobody stopped them when they walked through the creaky door and into an open field just before their base.

They stood there, taking in the surroundings. The temperature was different and the light felt strange on their plating.

-"Sooo…this is the ugly part right?" Serengeti looked around apprehensively.

-"This is the every part." Lucy drawled with inflection which sounded very much like a manner in which Knock Out spoke.

Bleak, flaky wasteland stretched before them in every direction, skeletons of crumbling buildings stood out starkly against the horizon.

-"I can't believe this is what we have been fighting for…" Steve still could not believe his visual feedback. -" We lost Mina and Vik for This?" He wanted to include Soundwave and, by extention, Laserbeak in the list but that was his personal relationship so he kept it to himself.

As if to contribute to the mood, one of the more precariously-tilted buildings collapsed in distance, sending up a cloud of dust around it.

-"Frag…"

-"D'ya think we could still go back to Earth?"

* * *

You are welcome to send me your love and adoration.

Thank you for reading!


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